


Stray Winter Thoughts

by StarryIllusions (StrawberrySweetYume)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Soulmate AU, winter cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 13:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8847556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberrySweetYume/pseuds/StarryIllusions
Summary: Sometimes it was still amazing to think of the difference your soulmate could make once they entered your life.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nnyankowski](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Nnyankowski).



“The second one, Yuuri.” Viktor prompted his fiancé, head resting on the Japanese man’s shoulder. In front of them was Yuuri’s bright laptop, displaying an array of links to different versions of the same movie. Yuuri’s hands, with their short cut nails, were partially covered by the long sleeves of his sweater as he held onto the laptop with one hand, occasionally typing something new in a search box or clicking another link. The movie wasn’t hard to find, but good subtitles were, apparently, a different story. The movie itself was fairly new and while finding it online proved easy enough, none of the versions had good subtitles or they were out of sync with the voices. Had the movie been in English they would have watched it as it was but it was a Russian movie. Viktor himself did not have a particular interest in the new movies that had appeared, most seemed a bit boring and with everything that had been going on in his personal life he didn’t keep up with them. He liked that thought though, not having time for something because he was taking care of his personal life, especially when said part of his life involved the person he was happiest with. Both he and Yuuri had pretty busy schedules, but the rest of their time was mostly spent together and that made up for all the hard work, whether they were travelling or just having dinner with one another. 

Still, it did warm Viktor’s heart when his life-partner asked him to pick a Russian movie for them to watch after a long day, not because of the language or because Yuuri was interested in him. After all, he already knew Yuuri’s love for him was as immeasurable as his. More so, it was endearing because his fiancé seemed to entertain the idea of learning some of his language. Yuuri had not decided on classes or finding a tutor but occasionally he’d ask Viktor a question or fiddle with an application on his phone. It was no way to learn a language proper, some might have said, but by now his precious sleeping beauty was able to read in Russian, even if he did not understand everything, and Viktor had even taught him a few expressions to help him along. His fiancé had an accent when speaking and sometimes needed a bit of time to decipher words or what was being said, still he was doing his best. He didn’t seem to be making much progress, but Viktor could actually notice slight differences here and there, for example how a word started being easier to pronounce after he had used it more or how he had even started pronouncing his name more accurately with time, forming a sharper ‘V’ at the beginning. Despite that, he was definitely a mess when it came to actually listening to it being talked since the language tended to be spoken quickly and fluently so Viktor sometimes had to repeat things several times, slowly, for him to understand. He was trying to get used to it but it was taking time. Not that Viktor minded, it was cute to watch and they had all the time in the world between themselves. All the time in the world to hear Yuuri go from bad pronunciations to copying what Viktor said better, all the time to teach him how to say ‘Stay Close to me’ and all the time to smile and learn new things together one by one, word by word. 

This was not a language lesson though. On the contrary, where they were now, was a place they had come to for relaxation. With the holidays coming around it was only normal that they would want to do something special. Viktor had thought that perhaps they could travel somewhere or maybe do something fun, but by then a few plans were already in place so they had decided that they would spend Christmas – the one Yuuri celebrated in December – at his fiancé’s house in Hansetsu and make a small trip together, just the two of them, before that. It was so that they had ended up visiting Moscow, all bundled up and smiling with their cheeks flushed while drinking hot cocoa, shopping and sight-seeing, taking pictures and overall just enjoying each other’s company. It was very cold, neither would deny that, but that was part of the charm of it all they supposed…well, it had been part of the charm till a snowstorm started and they just barely reached their hotel back in time. It was still raging outside even now, fierce with wind, covering everything in white and making it hard to see the beautiful view they had initially had when arriving. It made for little worry though when they were both safe and warm inside their room, snuggled up together on a double bed with the covers pulled over them. The soft pillows had been stacked together for comfort behind Viktor while Yuuri had taken the opportunity to make himself warm and snug in his lover’s embrace when the other extended his arms out as an invitation to him. Being in Viktor’s arms always felt like coming home. Viktor was warm and welcoming, it felt reassuring to have his arms wrapped around him and somewhere along the way he just might have started to link those feelings with him. It was hard not to. Viktor hugged him when he needed a confidence boost, but the ones he remembered most vividly were the ones he got after skating. The ones where he was tired and anxiety was bubbling within him as he thought on how his score might have turned out. Viktor extending his arms for him to come and hug him were relief, it meant everything would be alright, it calmed down the nervous flip-flops in his stomach, silenced some of his anxiety and brought some stability to the bundle of nerves he had become. Viktor’s hugs were his safe place. Yuuri could tell the other missed him when they hugged at the airport after having not seen each other even if just for a little while, he could tell how proud he was of him after a skating competition, he could tell how much he loved him as his soulmate kept one arm around him while walking. Having Viktor’s arms wrapped around his torso now as they looked through various sites felt nice in itself even without the movie having started. 

A soft, almost inaudible tap and the next page loaded. Yuuri dragged the cursor over the player to move later into the movie and see if the subtitles were appearing correctly. He couldn’t help the smile on his face. “It works!” he declared happily, stealing a glance to his fiancé’s bright blue eyes, seeing his smile returned. Starting the movie from the very beginning, he shifted along with Viktor so they were lying back comfortably instead of leaning over the laptop, Yuuri holding the device in his lap. It was a new movie so they had yet to see it. Nothing too impressive in truth, just another winter themed soulmate romance that had probably been done to death, but they were still fun to watch if done right. It started out pretty slow with a few conversations and the main character whining about colours and lack of love. The conversations were pretty simplistic and Viktor couldn’t help but smile as he saw Yuuri try to catch onto a word or two. The movie didn’t seem to wait long after that before it got to its ‘Moment’. Everyone knew the ‘Moment’. It was the moment you saw your soulmate, the moment everything was supposed to gain meaning and you were supposed to fall irrevocably in love and what not. It was supposed to be that anyhow, it was how it was always portrayed and it was, indeed, considered the life-changing point in many people’s lives. Technically speaking it was, if only because of the physical changes that transpired. It wasn’t that you suddenly grew wings or got rid of an annoying ache or scar, far from something so fantastical actually. It was a bit simpler than that and it also made it very easy to figure out whose point of view the movie was from when watching it. As a child no one knows who their soulmate is because they’ve never seen them and no one can see in colour from the very beginning…at least not in all colours. People are born seeing in the colour of their soulmate’s eyes, albeit with different shades and their soulmate’s shade predominant over the rest. For example, a person with a soulmate of black eye colour would see in black and white, while someone with a soulmate of green eye colour would see in shades of green from emerald to grass green and lime, and so on.

Viktor still remembered his. He had grown up seeing everything in different shades of brown. Dark ochre, light brown like the colour of Makkachin’s fur, dark brown like the bark of trees, warm calming browns that helped him keep his composure more than he had originally realized. The types of shades that one felt at peace with and gave everything a homely feeling. He had never missed colour because no one missed something they had never had, even if people might’ve wished for it. He could still vividly recall how excited everyone was when talking about how beautiful and how colourful the world shall turn once they met their soulmate and things were as they should be. He remembered those conversations from when he was a child, but they happened on a daily basis everywhere in the world even now, by people of all ages. People wanted their soulmate and they wanted colour because things were ‘boring’ or ‘hard to bear’ or they were simply becoming impatient and sad stuck in this ‘colourless void’. People were hard to understand sometimes. Viktor had actually one of the people who hadn’t wished to see in colour. He wasn’t sure he wanted to at that time because things around him weren’t as monotone and horrible as people made them out to be. Sure, a few things looked similar which made for some confusion and he could not understand why soulmates were so close to one another or participate in games where you saw the colours, but all those were trivial matters. The darkness wasn’t as scary when it was tinted in warmth, the marks he left on the ice stood out more in their contrast of shades to him and his hair looked soft and lively coated in a sweet brown. He had been told his eyes were ‘blue’ so he hoped that was the same colour he had been seeing in originally because his eyes looked so warm and welcoming in that colour, he would have liked to keep it. Everything was one colour, not one shade…and even if it had been one shade, the predominant shade ruling his vision as a child was warm and sweet and bright. He didn’t feel like he wanted to know of ‘colours’ yet.

In school everyone was taught how to figure out colours once they did see them as to not be confused when it happened. They were told basic things such as how the grass was green in summer, how wood was brown, how the sky was blue when clear during the day and black with stars at night, how this flower was mostly this colour or that or how certain buildings were these colours and the sun was yellow. Basics. They were told of their own colours so that they could distinguish some of them when looking in the mirror. Viktor knew he was ‘pale’ and had ‘blue’ eyes. He also knew the colours of some of his classmates but it seemed kind of useless to keep those in mind so he forgot them not too long after. He knew ‘blue’ was supposed to be very pretty and ‘green’ helped with creativity. He knew ‘yellow’ was sometimes too bright and that ‘black’ and ‘white’ were non-colours and could be very beautiful when combined. However, ‘brown’ had always sounded like an awfully boring and dull colour for some reason, but Viktor had gone a long time without knowing it was brown he was seeing in. The skater almost felt cheated by those associations with brown when he realized it had been the colour he had seen in for years of his life. He also felt cheated by the universe when seeing in colour happened to him out of the blue. Movies like the one they were currently watching made it seem so very magical with this huge flood of colours and the blowing wind while the person’s eyes focused on their soulmate and stayed there for a moment, taking them in. It was pretty to watch but it was not how it had happened for him. In movies everything was ideal, including how the two soulmates met and saw each other at the same time. Most soulmates these days saw each other before meeting.

The first time Viktor had seen his soulmate had been during a competition.

Even then he was a very talented young skater and many held high hopes and expectations for him. Back then he had gone on the ice expecting to skate his routine as shades of chestnut, beige and burnt umber moved around him like always. The influx of colour in his vision hadn’t been magical but it had been very sudden. One moment he was jumping in the air and half through almost all known shades had been drained from the world, leaving him almost blinded by white and the clear ice underneath him. It had been so sudden and during such a quick rotation that he hadn’t even been able to remember which part of the crowd he was looking at. Had it not been for his muscle memory he just might have flunked that performance, but he didn’t. It wasn’t love or sudden enchantment he felt back then but rather fear of falling, fear of what was going on and general shock at the sudden change in environment and the lack of the colour he had grown around in. His skin seemed far too pale back then and his hair much lighter, even his costume looked very cold all of a sudden, like the ice he was skating on. He continued skating and finished the routine perfectly just as always. However, by the end of it all he felt considerably shaken and disoriented. He couldn’t even figure out where the exit of the rink was for one embarrassing moment before he spotted a somewhat familiar setting. Colour had not been what he expected. The lights seemed as if they were glaring at him now, the ice was far more clear than he could have ever imagined and even distinguishing his coach and friends had been a challenge once he was off of the ice. It was…mesmerizing, but very hard to get used to. He found out two facts about his soulmate that day: they had been to one of the competitions he participated in and they had warm, beautiful brown eyes. Unfortunately, brown seemed to be a more common eye colour than he would have liked and hard to track…even more so at such a big competition. Given how everyone in movies found each other at the same time he almost expected his soulmate to come up to him at the end and tell him who they were but no one came. The other competitors went up, his score came up before he even noticed it and the competition ended but no one came over and however much he tried to figure it out in his mind it was a very difficult task when he had earlier been caught up in his routine.

He did not find them back then.

Colour was there because he had briefly seen them. 

Viktor had yet to meet his soulmate.

Viktor’s soulmate did not make an appearance for years. Perhaps they did not want to make an appearance. Perhaps he would never find them and that had been a one-time flunk. Perhaps he was unlucky. The idea was put aside and buried. It wasn’t as if there weren’t other ways to find out who your soulmate was if he truly bothered with it, but he had had skating to concentrate on back then. He had had a public to surprise and limits to push against. Even so, a more accurate way to find your soulmate was with your mark. Everyone was born with them, some had them on their back or on their wrist, some had them on their neck or even on their cheek. Marks in the writing of your soulmate spelling out your name. Interesting – and annoying – thing about these marks were that if your soulmate was to learn how to spell your name in its original alphabet in the future, then that was how your mark would appear. Viktor might have had that accusing mark on the top of his thigh spelling his name in Cyrillic, but that did not mean anything. For all he knew his soulmate could have been of any nationality, as long as they learnt to write his name in Cyrillic before they died, his mark would be in Cyrillic. There were sites that actually helped you try and find a match but he had never tried those. Most people who had their marks in a place they did not want to flaunt did not tend to join in on such things, which was to be expected – Christophe was an exception. Viktor had given up on life and love for a long time, ignored them and set them aside completely in exchange for skating and bettering himself. If soulmates were meant to be then wouldn’t it just happen? Would it even matter? Sincerely, he hadn’t even thought about having a soulmate in such a long time that he couldn’t be bother to care. He didn’t feel as if a soulmate would be able to change much back then. They wouldn’t change who he was or what he did, he’d still be deeply involved in his work, so what would it even count for? He didn’t feel like a ‘soulmate’ would simply come into his life and make everything better, not even with all of the love stories that floated around.

At the very least Viktor did not think so till Yuuri appeared. The Russian skater had only seen him in pictures before, as a fellow skater. He hadn’t thought much of it except for him being a fellow competitor. It was when actually meeting him that something had given him pause. As a living legend, it was only normal that people wanted commemorative photos with him. He had thought Yuuri might want one despite his defeat so he had ventured to ask. There had been a pause as their eyes met though, one he hadn’t intended to happen and hadn’t been certain why had happened for a long while. It actually bugged him because he rarely lost his composure and he couldn’t figure out what had caused it. He thought about it thorough the day but nothing truly popped out and before long the banquet rolled around and the thought moved to the back of his mind, rather than staying at the forefront of his thoughts. In truth, it was hard to have anything on your mind during that banquet once Yuuri had actually joined the fray. Before he even knew what was going on anymore there was a drunk Yuuri challenging Yurio to a dance off and along with the dancing, clothes started coming off to reveal more and more skin in Yuuri’s case. As the whole thing unraveled on the dancefloor he had forgotten what it was that had bothered him earlier, because he had genuinely started to enjoy himself while dancing with Yuuri and having fun, smiling, laughing and moving to the beat of the music. They danced closely and Viktor sincerely couldn’t remember another time in his life when he had felt this alive. Admittedly, he had not expected Yuuri to strip down to his underwear and start pole dancing. He was fairly sure no one had expected that but that didn’t stop him or the others from taking pictures as Chris joined in on the pole dancing and champagne started flowing everywhere. It made for a very mesmerizing sight – and Gods knew if that didn’t spell Eros, nothing did. Yuuri definitely made an impression that night. It was likely one he wasn’t very proud of, but Viktor still had those images vividly in his mind from the way Yuuri’s laughter sounded as they danced to how he couldn’t take his blue eyes off of him as he danced and how there was a little mark on the top of his thigh…probably his soulmate mark. As if Viktor hadn’t fallen fast and hard already that evening, Yuuri clung to him while asking him to be his coach. He had never truly considered that option before but when Yuuri of all people proposed it – albeit drunk, but those were details – it almost seemed as if that was what he should do. What he was meant to do. He was already getting bored, already tired of trying to surprise the audience because everyone expected him to do that, he was tired of the same routine over and over again…this was different and if there was a chance of feeling as alive as he had felt that night simply by being by Yuuri’s side he was willing to give it a chance. Viktor didn’t doubt that the sight of it all was pretty silly seen from the outside though, which was probably why Yurio looked as if he was constipated at the sight. 

It was important to Viktor though. This person – not someone who he thought might be his soulmate or significant over, as such thoughts had long since stopped crossing his mind – made him happy. He made him smile and want to dance and have fun. It had been a long time since he had felt genuine enjoyment from something and Yuuri truly made him feel like he was living for the first time in years. True, it had been a party. More so, it had been a party where Yuuri was completely and utterly intoxicated and it had been a truly wild night to say the least, but there was no reason for that to invalidate his feelings of true enjoyment by the other’s side. He hadn’t even realized how much he was looking forward to possibly seeing Yuuri again till he hadn’t appeared during the next season. He still had the videos from the banquet on his phone, which he had indeed re-watched quite a few times to his amusement and disappointment. The Japanese skater had been why he had made the routine for Eros. It was during a thought about the program that realization actually struck him as to why Yuuri had given him pause back then when their gazes had met. Yuuri had brown eyes. More so, he had a very nice shade of brown eyes, warm and bright and sweet…the problem was you couldn’t just assume someone was your soulmate because of their eye colour and because you liked their dancing, that was pushing it. Plus, Viktor had been seeing in colour for years, he wasn’t even sure he remembered the predominant shade of brown from back when he was a child and if he was wrong he would only make a fool of himself. Yuuri had very pretty eyes, but he should not be so brash as to jump to conclusions. Despite that he had still rewatched those videos a few times as if that would provide him with some answers. Rather than help they arose more questions when he actually took notice of the mark on the top of Yuuri’s thigh – it was hard not to notice those thighs when he was pole-dancing. Still, it wasn’t a clear image on his phone. He did remember it didn’t look like Cyrillic or the roman alphabet…likely written in Japanese. He had spent months just thinking about that proposition at the banquet, but taking a decision hadn’t happened for a long time. After all, what if he went there and Yuuri said it was a joke? What if it had been just a drunken proposition and nothing serious? There were too many ‘what ifs’. 

Things had only escalated when he had seen Yuuri dance his program ‘Stay close to me’. He wasn’t sure exactly what that had stirred but it felt like a calling out to him and he found himself wanting to answer him, not because of a chance that they might be soulmates, but because he genuinely liked this person. Because he genuinely enjoyed this person’s company the last time. He had made the decision right then and before long had been in Hansetsu coaching Yuuri on dancing Eros – ironically enough. Yuuri and him had never had any magical realization moment like in the movies. Yuuri did not even remember what colour he had seen in as a child because he had started seeing in colour very early in his life, so whether the shade had been the blue of Viktor’s eyes or some other colour was a mystery. They didn’t need one though. Coaching and spending time together proved to be more than enough to grow closer and they had long since passed the point in their relationship where either might even think that the other wasn’t their soulmate. They just…knew. There wasn’t a need to check. Still, that did not mean that Viktor could help the grand grin on his face when his writing matched Yuuri’s mark – once his lovely fiancé had taught him how to write it in Japanese – or that Yuuri didn’t look absolutely adorable as he smiled, face flushed, when his own writing fit Viktor’s mark. It was expected, but it still made them happy as they entwined their fingers, feeling the coldness of the other’s engagement ring against their skin. Engaged and soon to be happily married to the love of their life.

The snowstorm outside seemed to continue on for a long while, but it didn’t bother either of them any. Half through the movie Yuuri’s breath evened out as he snuggled closer into his fiancé’s arms and Viktor noticed he had fallen asleep. They had had a pretty full day and since it was evening it wasn’t all that surprising that his sleeping beauty had slipped into dreamland. A small piano arrangement started playing from the movie in the background as Viktor carefully pulled the glasses off of Yuuri’s face and set them aside on the nightstand. Leaning over carefully, he placed a gentle, loving kiss on Yuuri’s forehead and smiled down at him. Soulmate stories were overrated, but soulmates were not. He wasn’t sure where he would have been today without Yuuri, nor did he ever want to find out. Whether it was pole dancing, skating or stumbling, Viktor was happy Yuuri had come into his life.

“Thank you, Yuuri.”

**Author's Note:**

> This took me longer than I thought it would =~=; also never wrote for this pairing before so I kinda give up here. Anyway this is a birthday present fanfic thingy so that being said, Happy Birthday Sweetheart, I hope you enjoyed reading it!


End file.
